Doweling jigs are used in woodworking to generate dowel holes in a workpiece. The jig has several bore guides arranged at fixed distances relative to a reference point of the jig. The bore guides generally have open bores that allow a boring tool such as a drill to pass through a portion of the jig and drill dowel holes in the workpiece. The holes receive dowels used to join workpieces together. Once a dowel hole is drilled, a portion of a dowel is inserted into the dowel hole, leaving a portion of the dowel exposed. The workpiece is then joined to a subsequent workpiece having a like dowel hole, generated by a similar process, by inserting the exposed portion of the dowel into the dowel hole of the subsequent workpiece. The above process is generally used in the formation of “face,” “corner” and “T” joints commonly used in woodworking.
Unfortunately, contemporary doweling jigs present several drawbacks. For example, contemporary doweling jigs are designed to place dowel holes at several fixed dimensions relative to a reference point of the jig. Accordingly, when a workpiece is clamped against the reference point of the jig, the bore guide is positioned at a fixed distance relative to the workpiece. As a result, contemporary doweling jigs are limited to forming dowel holes at a number of predefined locations as measured from a reference point of the jig, regardless of the dimensions of the workpiece operated upon.
Additionally, many doweling jigs operate on a single workpiece at a time. Once dowel holes are formed in that workpiece, the jig is removed, and mounted to a subsequent workpiece. Unfortunately, because of this refixturing, there is a risk that the resulting dowel holes will not properly match up with the first board's dowel holes, so that there is a noticeable and undesirable edge at the joint formed by the boards. Such a result is particularly undesirable where a flat surface between mating boards is desired, such as in table tops or other similar designs.
In view of the above, there is a desire in the art for a doweling jig that alleviates the above problems as well as other problems associated with current doweling jig designs.
Embodiments of the invention provide such a doweling jig. These and other advantages of the invention, as well as additional inventive features, will be apparent from the description of the invention provided herein.